To the House of Commons for the Ramanavami Festival there as a guest of Minister of State Tony McNulty and Abhay Lakhani Parliamentary Advisor on Community Issues. Unfortunately Tony got called away to give a speech in the debating chamber and only joined us for the last few minutes of the event but the same Steve Pound MP from yesterday took his place as compere and host for the event along with Abhay. The event was focussed primarily on religious and cultural themes with a Ram pooja as well as Indian classical dance and music performances. These were interspersed with short addresses by various MPs and community leaders. General Secretary of Hindu Council UK Anil Bhanot made what I perceive as the biggest political contribution with a direct request to Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt who was in attendance to press the importance of preserving the Ram Setu bridge at the next Indo-UK Round Table that she will be attending in Delhi. The issues around this are quite interesting, it being a very real example of the intersection between Religion, Economics and the Environment. Overall the event was well executed and very informing packing much content into a short timeframe and bringing many aspects and sections of the British Hindu community together in a true masala.

To the Washington Hotel Mayfair – which incidentally is owned by a British Indian – for the Labour Friends of India (LFI) Annual Luncheon as a guest of Saffron Chase. The compere for the event was current LFI chair Steve Pound MP. Our Prime Minister Gordon Brown was the chief guest of honour with current Mayor of London Ken Livingstone following him. Both gave speeches of some interest on the subject of Indo-British relations. Gordon received a particularly large round of applause when he said ‘I believe the (UN) Security Council without India cannot be a Security Council reflecting the reality of the day’. In general, I have found that the Labour party follows a more proactive line in dealing with India relations when compared to their opposition. Ken highlighted his recent opening of offices in India during his own speech but his Conservative criticisers have tended to scoff at these efforts charging him with wasting money. However I think that – as an emerging superpower and one of the fastest growing economies in the world – British policy makers cannot afford to ignore India and should be doing all they can to maintain our country’s historically close relationship. At the event the Fenner Brockway medal was presented by the PM to a predecessor as Labour Party Leader Lord Neil Kinnock who currently chairs the British Council. I took the opportunity to introduce myself to him after the speeches and lunch were over and found him to be quite engaging. I also met International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander along with the PM’s Special Envoy for Forestry Barry Gardener MP. Other distinguished attendees included His Excellency Mr Asoke Mukerji the acting Indian High Commissioner, Secretary of State for Justice Jack Straw, Minister for Olympics Tessa Jowell and British Ambassador for Overseas Business industrialist Lord Swraj Paul. It was great to see so many of in our government supporting the importance of good relations with India and it was a very well put together and enjoyable event. Happily I bumped into a few old friends and acquaintances as well and I shared a particularly entertaining walk and tube ride back to the office with a Partner at a boutique securities trading firm which does a lot of work on Indian products.

To Corney & Barrow Paternoster Square for Karamsad Samaj UK Youth’s Networking Night. It was an opportunity to finally meet the chair of their committee who I’ve been in correspondence with previously on an unrelated issue around the Shri Vallabh Nidhi (UK) Trust. I bumped into a couple of old contacts and a relation there as well so it turned out to be a quite an enjoyable night, although it did seem to be arranged along the lines of a nightclub with the result that there wasn’t much opportunity for any real networking.

To my club for dinner with an old acquaintance. He recently left GLG Partners (where a survey by Alpha magazine has revealed that the co-founders each took home $350m last year) to join a small British Indian owned Fund of Hedge Funds focusing on emerging markets. It’s always good to get some insight from industry professionals; perhaps I will invite him to the next Information Arbitrage meeting.

To Waterloo, then to Twickenham, and on to Hounslow for an extended meeting with the editor of e-magazine Hindu Voice UK (blog) – which at the time of posting has a substantial circulation of around 30,000 – and a couple of his contacts to discuss a project we are working on.

To Rex Bar and Cinema for the engagement party of probably the most golden couple from my university years, A and K. I recently holidayed with A and a few of our mutual friends at his villa in Murcia. With the memories of that break fresh in our minds it was a jolly good night out and great to catch up with some other old friends.

To Lambeth Palace as a guest of the Archbishop of Canterbury to attend the Lambeth Inter Faith Lecture given this year by Professor Anantanand Rambachan on the subject Hindus and Christians: Celebrating Friendship and Facing Challenges with Hope. An interesting talk which was – as usual with these things – followed by some challenging discussions with the speaker as well as Rt Revd Dr Rowan Williams who didn’t seem to have any problems with taking the floor when certain audience members decided to direct their questions at him rather than the lecturer.

To the Radisson Edwardian Hotel Heathrow for the Lohana Community North London Business & Professional Seminar dinner as a guest of HELM Asset Management. It’s organised annually by a cousin of the Lornamead brothers whose son is very well known in the British Asian nightclub scene. Unfortunately he wasn’t there, but I did bump into my uncle who is a Director at Bank of Scotland Corporate and on his table was one of the Director/brother’s at Sigma Pharmaceuticals (a big supplier to my family business) whose son I met last year at a friend’s sister’s wedding. Guest Speaker for the night was Sanjeev Shah who has just taken over from star manager Anthony Bolton at Fidelity on their Special Situations Fund. No real insight from him on the global economy as he held he takes a bottom up approach but he was of the opinion that there is some value now available in the financial services and banking sector. It was a thoroughly enjoyable event though and quite surprising to see so many people there from outside of the Lohana community.

To the Civil Service Club to meet Richard Barnes (currently Leader of the Conservative Group on the London Assembly and widely expected to become Deputy Mayor if Boris Johnson wins on May 1st) as part of the British Hindu Community’s engagement with our nation’s politicians. I found his approach of aiming to cut out the diversity industry in the process of political engagement with minority communities thoroughly refreshing and certainly feel it could be a welcome change from the divide and rule approach that seems to dominate many echelons of government today. A similar approach indeed – although much more clearly stated – to the impression that Boris gave when I met him earlier on in the mayoral election campaign.